The Zoologist — January, 1869. 1507 



that he seems an embodied particle of the element in which he lives: 

 only though to rise again so near my concealment that his hoary 

 neck and blood-red eye, his speckled throat and riband back, glisten 

 in all their beauty before my eyes. Thanks, Fortune, for that rich 

 five minutes of association in all the tranquillity, in all the happi- 

 ness, in all the confidence of liberty, with so rare, so beautiful 

 a creature. Dive far from me, poor blackthroat, hasten away with 

 some lurking fear, change that calm look of trust to the furtive gaze of 

 suspicion — do not die with that gentle look upon my face. There ! 

 see me now ! long as I have waited I will not lake your life. Ah ! 

 thou didst well to make that hurried plunging dive, for the naturalist 

 has fallen to the mere collector of specimens, and the hound seeks 

 recompense for his wait by blood. Bah ! hast thou risen again but 

 sevent}' yards away ? has idle curiosity tempted thee to look upon 

 the stealthy wild-fowler? thy chance is gone — thy doom is sealed. 

 The rusty barrels quickly creep along the prow, the snake's head grins 

 upon the dexter cock thrown back to strike : it strikes — and with his 

 death the twilight shadows into night. Such is life to the Irish wild- 

 fowl shooter, by night and by day, its fortunes ever varying — unlimited 

 success, nights of weary watching : the sportsman often, the naturalist 

 always : the wild bird the key to our hearts. 



Prohahility that there are two kinds of Blackihroated Divers. — 

 The bird just mentioned quite agrees with the account of authors as 

 to plumage and formation — that it is more similar in figure, bill and 

 plumage to the great northern than to the redthroated diver: it is cer- 

 tainly a more robust bird, though not longer than the redthroat; it has 

 also a much deeper and decurved bill, and generally weighs consider- 

 ably more. Now we have a blackthroated diver that frequents the 

 east coast of Ireland during winter that is so similar in build, weight 

 and formation of bill, as well as being speckled in immaturity like the 

 redthroat, that it requires an experienced eye to discriminate between 

 them and redthroated divers, except when black is to be seen on 

 the throat. Either these birds are the 3'oung of the well-known 

 blackthroated species (C. arcticus) or they are a distinct species. 

 Authors tell us that the young of C. arcticus is very similar to the 

 young of C. glacialis; that is, the feathers of the upper parts are 

 grayish or bronz}- black edged with hoary gray : the lesser imber of 

 the ancients is supposed to refer to the young of C. arcticus, as the 

 greater imber does to C. glacialis. I cannot argue this, nor can I say 

 whether the well-known C. arcticus is similar to C. glacialis in its 



